#formicidae — Public Fediverse posts

The big #anthill I pass on my lunchtime walks is coming to life! (for size reference, the hill is somewhere between 4 and 5 feet tall.

I don't check it daily so it's possible that I'm late to catch on, but this was the first time all winter I've seen activity on the hill. They're moving slowly, presumably to conserve energy.

A good lesson, that: Move slowly. Conserve energy.

#awalkaday #ants #formicidae #pnw

Anyway here's the ant nuptial flights I found. The workers are tiny, like, 1mm or something. I think they are the same species? They resemble citronella ants, but much smaller and not as yellow. *Lasius*? *Brachymyrmex*?

I did also see another kind of alate so multiple species are likely having mating flights right now.

#antstodon #insects #ants #Hymenoptera #Formicidae

A few photos from my walk today, showcasing this cool #anthill I walk past every day.

There's a low hill covered in ivy near the path, but a section of it has been neatly cleared of ivy. For whatever reason, the #ants keep it trimmed back from the top of the hill.

Bonus flowering tree, since why not.

#insects #nature #awalkaday #formicidae

🆕Review Article: Intramandibular glands in ants
Billen, J. & Wang, C.
#formicidae #mandibles #morphology #ultrastructure #review

https://myrmecologicalnews.org/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=1652&Itemid=444

_Lasius_ nuptial flight day!!! _L. neoniger_, I'm pretty sure. These are some of the most common ants I see, but I'd never seen a nuptial flight till now.

I found an alate the moment after she detached her wings!

#bugstodon #antstodon #insects #ants • #Hymenoptera #Formicidae #Lasius

Carpenter vs. carpenter!

Today I spotted a carpenter bee (_Xylocopa_) with a disembodied carpenter ant (_Camponotus_) head still latched on to its leg! (Circled in second photo if you can't see it.)

#bugstodon #insects #bees #ants • #Hymenoptera #Apidae #Xylocopa #Formicidae #Camponotus

This Giant Forest Ant (Dinomyrmex gigas) fell into the water at MacRItchie Reservoir Park, Singapore, and is now being preyed upon by Striped Pond Skaters (genus Limnogonus). Spotted on 22 Oct 2023.

The Giant Forest Ant is one of the largest ants in the world. Workers can be 20mm in length.

On iNaturalist [ https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/188499573 ]

#iNaturalist #Nature #Singapore #Photography #Insects #Ants #Formicidae #Hymenoptera #PondSkaters #Gerridae #Hemiptera

I found the most amazing scale insects (superfamily Coccoidea) on a tree today!!! Big, close to pea-sized, and salmon-coloured, and tended by carpenter ants.

I pried up the edge of an already damaged one with a leaf-stem, and some babies came out!!

#bugstodon #insects #ScaleInsects #Hemiptera #Sternorrhyncha #Coccoidea #Hymenoptera #Formicidae #Camponotus #macro @bugid

I found the most amazing scale insects (superfamily Coccoidea) on a tree today!!! Big, close to pea-sized, and salmon-coloured, and tended by carpenter ants.

I pried up the edge of an already damaged one with a leaf-stem, and some babies came out!!

#bugstodon #insects #ScaleInsects #Hemiptera #Sternorrhyncha #Coccoidea #Hymenoptera #Formicidae #Camponotus #macro @bugid

I found the most amazing scale insects (superfamily Coccoidea) on a tree today!!! Big, close to pea-sized, and salmon-coloured, and tended by carpenter ants.

I pried up the edge of an already damaged one with a leaf-stem, and some babies came out!!

#bugstodon #insects #ScaleInsects #Hemiptera #Sternorrhyncha #Coccoidea #Hymenoptera #Formicidae #Camponotus #macro @bugid

I found the most amazing scale insects (superfamily Coccoidea) on a tree today!!! Big, close to pea-sized, and salmon-coloured, and tended by carpenter ants.

I pried up the edge of an already damaged one with a leaf-stem, and some babies came out!!

#bugstodon #insects #ScaleInsects #Hemiptera #Sternorrhyncha #Coccoidea #Hymenoptera #Formicidae #Camponotus #macro @bugid

I found the most amazing scale insects (superfamily Coccoidea) on a tree today!!! Big, close to pea-sized, and salmon-coloured, and tended by carpenter ants.

I pried up the edge of an already damaged one with a leaf-stem, and some babies came out!!

#bugstodon #insects #ScaleInsects #Hemiptera #Sternorrhyncha #Coccoidea #Hymenoptera #Formicidae #Camponotus #macro @bugid

_Lasius_ nuptial flight in High Park the other day! The small bright yellow workers solicitously coax the winged reproductives out of the nest so they can take flight, mate, and found nests of their own.

These yellow ants have always creeped me out a bit. Their holes are very large, big enough to put your finger into, but the ants never seem to go in and out; they sit clustered just inside the entrance.

Apparently many _Lasius_ species live entirely underground tending root-feeding aphids and are only seen at the surface for nuptial flights. Maybe that's what I've been seeing—the workers waiting to escort the alates out.

#bugstodon #antstodon #insects #ants #Hymenoptera #Formicidae #macro 🐜

Ant nuptial flight time! Golden-brown female alates and darker males about half the size, on my windowsill and a few getting into the apartment. No time for a photoshoot sadly.

#insects #ants #antstodon #Hymenoptera #Formicidae 🐜

@futurebird
The whole setup is some Phase IV futuristic-looking SciFi shit. It's impressive. They included obstacles, barriers and traps for the ants to show their collective smarts in getting around or neutralizing them.

I don't know ants. I imagine aging individuals take on riskier (to themselves) roles, e.g. foraging, defense.

https://flic.kr/p/2oz5uB3

#Ants #Formicidae #LeafcutterAnts #Hymenoptera #AMNH #AmericanMuseumOfNaturalHistory #NYC #NewYorkCity #Museums

@futurebird
The whole setup is some Phase IV futuristic-looking SciFi shit. It's impressive. They included obstacles, barriers and traps for the ants to show their collective smarts in getting around or neutralizing them.

I don't know ants. I imagine aging individuals take on riskier (to themselves) roles, e.g. foraging, defense.

https://flic.kr/p/2oz5uB3

#Ants #Formicidae #LeafcutterAnts #Hymenoptera #AMNH #AmericanMuseumOfNaturalHistory #NYC #NewYorkCity #Museums

@futurebird
The whole setup is some Phase IV futuristic-looking SciFi shit. It's impressive. They included obstacles, barriers and traps for the ants to show their collective smarts in getting around or neutralizing them.

I don't know ants. I imagine aging individuals take on riskier (to themselves) roles, e.g. foraging, defense.

https://flic.kr/p/2oz5uB3

#Ants #Formicidae #LeafcutterAnts #Hymenoptera #AMNH #AmericanMuseumOfNaturalHistory #NYC #NewYorkCity #Museums

@futurebird
The whole setup is some Phase IV futuristic-looking SciFi shit. It's impressive. They included obstacles, barriers and traps for the ants to show their collective smarts in getting around or neutralizing them.

I don't know ants. I imagine aging individuals take on riskier (to themselves) roles, e.g. foraging, defense.

https://flic.kr/p/2oz5uB3

#Ants #Formicidae #LeafcutterAnts #Hymenoptera #AMNH #AmericanMuseumOfNaturalHistory #NYC #NewYorkCity #Museums

@futurebird
The whole setup is some Phase IV futuristic-looking SciFi shit. It's impressive. They included obstacles, barriers and traps for the ants to show their collective smarts in getting around or neutralizing them.

I don't know ants. I imagine aging individuals take on riskier (to themselves) roles, e.g. foraging, defense.

https://flic.kr/p/2oz5uB3

#Ants #Formicidae #LeafcutterAnts #Hymenoptera #AMNH #AmericanMuseumOfNaturalHistory #NYC #NewYorkCity #Museums

@futurebird
Cap'n! There be ants here!

https://flic.kr/p/2oz3Bz1

#Ants #Formicidae #LeafcutterAnts #Hymenoptera #AMNH #AmericanMuseumOfNaturalHistory #NYC #NewYorkCity #Museums

@futurebird
Cap'n! There be ants here!

https://flic.kr/p/2oz3Bz1

#Ants #Formicidae #LeafcutterAnts #Hymenoptera #AMNH #AmericanMuseumOfNaturalHistory #NYC #NewYorkCity #Museums

@futurebird
Cap'n! There be ants here!

https://flic.kr/p/2oz3Bz1

#Ants #Formicidae #LeafcutterAnts #Hymenoptera #AMNH #AmericanMuseumOfNaturalHistory #NYC #NewYorkCity #Museums

@futurebird
Cap'n! There be ants here!

https://flic.kr/p/2oz3Bz1

#Ants #Formicidae #LeafcutterAnts #Hymenoptera #AMNH #AmericanMuseumOfNaturalHistory #NYC #NewYorkCity #Museums

@futurebird
Cap'n! There be ants here!

https://flic.kr/p/2oz3Bz1

#Ants #Formicidae #LeafcutterAnts #Hymenoptera #AMNH #AmericanMuseumOfNaturalHistory #NYC #NewYorkCity #Museums

four genera of ants I've met recently:

- _Prenolepis imparis_
- _Camponotus_ sp.
- _Lasius_ sp.
- _Myrmica rubra_?

(cc @futurebird @alexwild 🐜)

#ArthroBeauty #antstodon #arthropods #insects #ants #Formicidae #macro

OK #ant boffins and #myrmecophiles. One of my #Canberra #Malaise trap records matches (100%) 9 other ants from further west in Canberra and a (private) record from #FrenchPolynesia (PF) identified as #Carebara tahitiensis: https://www.boldsystems.org/index.php/Public_SearchTerms?query=BOLD:AAY6881

Which is more likely?

Carebara tahitiensis in Canberra

Carebara tahitiensis == an AU Carebara species

PF record is misidentified widespread species

No COI difference between two species

Contamination

PF location wrong

#Formicidae #Entomology

Although leafcutter ants evoke the steamy tropics, our local Texas species is a decidedly winter animal, scarcely seen from July to October but going gangbusters on warmer days in February.

A video from earlier today at UT Austin's Brackenridge Field Lab:

#Atta #Ants #Formicidae #Formicidae

https://www.alexanderwild.com/HD-Video/Stock-video-files/Ants/n-2ztfv/i-wW2NBBK/A

#ants, #antkeeping, #camponotus, #atta, #queenant, #Hymenoptera, #eusocial, #arthropods, #formica, #antnest, #formicarium, #ant, #flyingantday, #lasius, #fireant, #polyrachis, #Dynomyrmex, #Formicidae, #Aculeata, #antalgorithim, #eusocialintelligence, #Doleromyrma, #Leptomyrmex, #mutualism, #Trophobiosis, #Coevolution, #Myrmecophily

Just some stuff to follow for me and maybe you.

Ants – with their wise #farming practices and efficient navigation techniques – could #inspire solutions for some #human problems

#Eusociality #Entomology #Science #Ants #Insects #AculeataFormicidae #Aculeata #Formicidae #Hymenoptera

https://www.rawstory.com/ants-with-their-wise-farming-practices-and-efficient-navigation-techniques-could-inspire-solutions-for-some-human-problems/